National "Vote No on the War Supplemental" Call-in Day will be Tuesday, Feb. 28

UFPJ Legislative Alert: Bush asks for $72.4 Billion More; Total cost of war approaches $400 Billion!

President Bush has submitted his "emergency" supplemental appropriation request to Congress. He is asking for $72.4 billion for the continued occupation of Iraq and the war in Afganistan. This is in addition to the $320 billion already spent on Iraq and Afganistan, and in addition to the $460 billion in military spending in the 2007 budget.

Although we expected this supplemental request to include aid for the hurricane -ravaged gulf coast, that request will be made separately. This is to our advantage, this will be a clean vote on war funding.

About the Supplemental Appropriations process: Both the House and the Senate will vote on the President's request. Amendments are allowed, they cannot change policy, but they can set conditions on the spending. We expect a vote in the House as early as March 13.

Our Response:
We are hearing from Senate staff that constituents are not calling and writing to protest the war -- they need to hear from us!

Members of Congress have returned to their districts (until Feb. 27) for the President's day recess. Here are some possibilities:
- Deliver hand-written letters to their offices (find a sample letter written by the Friends Committee on National Legisltion in the links below)
- Perhaps they read the paper when they are in their district! Send a letter to the editor decrying the cost of the war and asking your Senators and Rep. to stop funding the war. (see the end of this email for sample letters to the editor written by members of the UFPJ legislative action network).

You can read the President's "fact sheet" at this link:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060216-11.html (Caution, do not open this link if you already have high blood pressure!)
Thank you to Peter Lems at the American Friends Service Committee for forwarding these useful links:

Bush seeks 72.4 billion dollars for Iraq, Afghanistan
LINK

"President George W. Bush asked Congress Thursday for 72.4 billion dollars in additional funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, the White House said.

If approved as expected, the request would raise war-related costs to nearly 400 billion dollars since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The request is on top of 50 billion dollars already approved for fiscal 2006, raising the total for the year to 120 billion dollars.

Additionally, the White House has said it will seek another 50 billion dollars in bridge funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for fiscal 2007, which begins October 1.

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Resources and Actions

Iraq Spending and the Responsibility to Withdrawal: Letter to Congress
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1713&issue_id=35
Friends Committee on National Legislation | 14 February 2006

Phyllis Bennis and Erik Leaver have a concise document with the steps necessary for a immediate and complete withdrawal of all troops, military contractors and U.S. corporations backing the U.S. occupation. The updated cost of war factsheet is also very useful.

Ending the Iraq Quagmire: A Real Exit Strategy
http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/iraqexit.pdf
By: Phyllis Bennis and Erik Leaver | 31 January 2006

The Iraq Quagmire: Cost of War Factsheet
http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/cow1-06.pdf
Institute for Policy Studies & Foreign Policy in Focus | 30 January 2006

Voting Record of House Representatives (by State).
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/webready%20chart.xls

This grid shows what legislation your representative has introduced, supported and how they voted on the past major supplemental requests. You can also find whether or not your representative is part of the Out of Iraq Caucus.

UFPJ Legislative Working Group Resource Page
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3116

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10 Reasons Why the US Must Leave Iraq (December 2005)
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.htm
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.pdf (Flyer)

Sample letters to the Editor:

Below are a few of the letters written by members of the UFPJ Legislative Action Network in the past two weeks -- use them for inspiration! Facts and figures on local spending in your state/city are available at: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/

To: The New York Times

cc: Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Representive Jerold C. Nadler

Recently, the Bush administration announced that it will ask for another $70 billion for the Iraq war.

This will bring the total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afganistan to $120 billion for 2006. In New York City alone, where our public schools are in such crisis, the total amount we've spent in Iraq (nearly $300 billion) is enough to hire 4,154,955 additional public school teachers for one year. Instead, through the poverty draft, we let kids barter their lives for the education they so desperately need.

As a nation, we've chosen to spend billions occupying and devastating a country that wants us to leave, and it now seems clear that much of the budget for "reconstruction" has been directed into the pockets of war profiteers, when it isn't stolen outright and completely unnaccounted for.

Nor can we seem to actually deliver substantive aid to the people of New Orleans. How shocking it is that months after this disaster we're throwing folks out of hotels to make room for Mardi Gras tourists. It's obvious that there is no sincerity at all in our commitment to the displaced citizens of New Orleans, but full support for another "reconstruction" -- this one for the benefit of real-estate developers and other rich folks.

The terrible thing is that this is just business as usual. As usual. Aren't you tired of it? I am. How can America look at itself in the mirror, grease dripping from our chins, blood on our hands, deaf to the needs of our fellow human beings? Who are we?

We need to stop funding this war. We need to stop robbing our own country blind for the profit of the few. We need to start thinking about the future of our children, and their children. Reckless and relentless wars for control of resources are not going to solve our problems in the long-term, and there is an urgent need for us to invest in our future.

With deep regret,

Courtney Lee Adams

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Editor
The Brunswick News
3011 Altama Ave.
Brunswick, GA 31521

To the Editor,

As I write this on Feb. 3rd, it has been announced that George Bush will request another $70 billion in supplemental funding to pay for his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- mostly Iraq. This comes only a couple of days after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to slash $39.5 billion from Medicaid, Social Security for people with disabilities, child care programs, and student loans. At the same time, Bush wants to make permanent billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

How much clearer can it be? Not only are the deaths in Iraq borne by the poor and middle class, so is the cost. Who benefits? Well, the oil companies, recently provided by the Republicans with even more "tax incentives", announced record-breaking profits. Meanwhile, the only thing breaking for most of your readers is their budgets, as they struggle to adjust to record-breaking fuel costs.

How long will we allow this make-the-rich-richer-at-the-expense-of-the-rest-of-us ideology to control our government?

How long will we allow the wealth of our people and our future generations to be funnelled off into war and profiteering for the oil and military industries?

"Your heart," said Jesus, "will always be where your money lies." (Luke 12:34). Clearly, our hearts must not lie with the sick, the poor, the disabled, or our children. Rather, our hearts seem bent upon more death and destruction in Iraq.

May God have mercy on the United States of America.

Sincerely,

Robert G. Randall II
262-1274
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Copy of Letter to the Editor-sent to San Diego Union Tribune 2/3/06
As a student, mother, citizen and employee, I find it sickening and appalling that the current administration and Republican-led Congress have the audacity to cut 39.5 billion dollars from Medicaid, student loans, disability, and other vital programs in order to fund tax cuts for the rich and the war in Iraq.

As of today, the United States has spent 238 billion dollars on the war, which amounts to over 4.5 billion dollars a month (although we have only seen fit to spend $800 million dollars a month in Afghanistan). This amount could have hired over four million public school teachers for one year, insured 142 million children, sent 31 million children to head start, provided 11 million four year scholarships to college students, created 2 million public housing units, or immunized each and every child in the world for 79 years. I think the priorities (or lack thereof) of this government are clear: to fund pet projects, support cronyism, and line their own pockets at the expense of our future.

The short-sided and callous behavior of today's politicians will only serve to destabilize our military, erode our educational and healthcare systems, widen the gap between rich and poor, and weaken our economy as a whole. Our legislative and executive branches have been out of touch with the real needs and wishes of the American people for quite some time, as their fiscal choices have now shown. While the president asks for another 70 billion dollars for the Iraq war, children will go uneducated, the sick will go without healthcare, and the poor and elderly will be left to fend for themselves.

I can only hope that the current round of elections will bring a new group of leaders who will not bow to lobbyists or will not feel the need to distort the facts to further their radical warmongering agenda.
-- Angela West